‘Harvard grad’ Chuck Schumer credits Jefferson for Bill of Rights – IOTW Report

‘Harvard grad’ Chuck Schumer credits Jefferson for Bill of Rights

WTIMES

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, stumbled Tuesday over basic American history, crediting Thomas Jefferson for authorship of the Bill of Rights during a debate over the First Amendment and campaign finance.

“I think if Thomas Jefferson were looking down, the author of the Bill of Rights, on what’s being proposed here, he’d agree with it. He would agree that the First Amendment cannot be absolute,” Mr. Schumer said.

While Jefferson is deemed the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, he was not intimately involved in the writing of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, which is the first 10 amendments to that founding document.

Indeed, Jefferson was out of the country, serving as minister to France at the time of both the Constitution convention and the congressional debate over the Bill of Rights. His fellow Virginians, James Madison and George Mason, are usually credited with being more influential in the process — Mason for being among the most forceful in demanding the protections of such a Bill of Rights, and Madison for being the political muscle that got them approved.

“Madison’s support of the bill of rights was of critical significance,” the National Archives writes on its web page. “One of the new representatives from Virginia to the First Federal Congress, as established by the new Constitution, he worked tirelessly to persuade the House to enact amendments.”

more

.

14 Comments on ‘Harvard grad’ Chuck Schumer credits Jefferson for Bill of Rights

  1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
    or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
    or abridging the freedom of speech,
    or of the press;
    or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    I see Holder & Schumer & Elmo and the new war on home grown extremists and racists has a lot to work with right there in the First Amendment.

    It’s not going to happen.

  2. Sheesh. Schumer was my elected official for all 26 of the years I lived in Brooklyn–first as the reprsentative for the 10th (later 9th) district of New York State as my congressman, then as my Senator.

    I’m embarrassed that my former neighbors couldn’t vote a sharper guy into office.

Comments are closed.